


We Have Forever

by mashima



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Cake, Fluff, Gen, Goblins & Grim Reapers, Iwaizumi Hajime - Freeform, M/M, Sweet Fluff, happy birthday iwa-chan, iwaoi - Freeform, loosely based on goblin kdrama AU, oikawa tooru - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24641494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mashima/pseuds/mashima
Summary: “I would die to hear you call me Shittykawa again, but now we’re both already dead so I can’t die a second time… wait what was my point again?”Time has skipped to the ends of their lives, but luckily for them they still have an eternity to go.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Kudos: 14





	We Have Forever

No one could cut a soul from its host body as neatly as Oikawa could, with that special, almost flamboyant snap of a wrist. The first time Iwaizumi had witnessed it with his own two eyes, he let out an involuntary gasp at the action- there were hardly any traces of stray blood or wisps of damaged soul left for him to clean up, just a cold body falling limp in his arms. 

Oikawa had turned to him and smirked, “Never seen this much accuracy before, eh?”

Iwaizumi could only shrug. “You’re pretty good at it, not gonna lie.”

Oikawa seemed to love his answer, and from that very shift onwards, Iwaizumi finds himself getting paired up with the gregarious Reaper more and more often. It’s not as if he had any say over his schedule, and if Iwaizumi was honest to himself he would have admitted that he liked working alongside Oikawa. There’s an air of inexplicable familiarity with him, as if their efficient teamwork had spanned past the last thousand years, with traces seeping back into the days when he was still human and alive. Other Reapers were often too messy or sloppy for his tastes and can’t keep up with the appointments and schedules that he sets up for them, making his job as a Goblin much harder than it should be. 

But that doesn’t mean that Iwaizumi likes to hang out with Oikawa outside of their office hours. First of all, the nicknames. Oikawa’s peculiar ability to assign each and every person in the office with a nickname of their own grates at his nerves, but as time passes he gets used to “Iwa-chan~” being whined in Oikawa’s signature tone. Iwaizumi swears that Oikawa is the only person ever who could actually make the sound of the tilde symbol in real life.

The Grim Reaper’s extroverted personality and loud mouth often meant that there were a ton of other people milling around him anyway, but somehow his partner has always noticed him when he tries to slip out of the door at the end of their shift. The man-child would scramble to pack up his things, throw a few goodbyes to their colleagues, and rush out to follow Iwaizumi to the nearest train station.

“So it’s true huh,” Oikawa pants as he catches up with Iwaizumi on a particular June day.

“What?” Iwaizumi doesn’t slow down his steps. 

“That you Goblins don’t remember a single thing from your past life.”

Oikawa’s voice sounded rueful, as if he had expectations of the other man, or just any reaction at all. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and syncs his pace with Iwaizumi, both their footsteps crunching heavily on the gravel pavement. The Goblin loosens his tie just by an inch, and spares the figure next to him a single glance. He may not be the most perceptive person out there, but there’s a tinge of sadness in Oikawa’s voice that he could detect, albeit oh-so faintly.

It’s not as if Iwaizumi hasn’t wondered about his human life, but more like there was no reason for him to dwell on the past. After all, they could never go back. 

He’s not even sure why he was bound to Earth as an forever-wandering soul, but he has an actual job to do so it wasn’t even half as bad as others make it out to be. There are souls and ghosts out there without a purpose in their doomed, unending eternity nor a thing to their name, so Iwaizumi knows it’s best to just count his blessings as they come. 

A small part of his brain was still curious though. He has heard of whispered rumours that Grim Reapers have to bear the full knowledge of what they had been in the past. He can’t be certain for sure, as those creatures love to skirt around the subject, mostly unwilling to reveal more. Iwaizumi thinks that he would hate to talk about it if he knew, too. The great mystery of why he wasn’t let into Heaven after his death would be solved if he was allowed a glimpse into his past, but he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to know the real reasons why.

He shrugs at Oikawa. “I’m fine with not knowing.”

Silence blankets upon them as they trudge on. The sun was setting in the far horizon, making the world rosy-pink with soothing vitality. Maybe being on Earth (forever) isn’t as bad as it seems. If they were up in Heaven, they could never enjoy the cool evening breeze and the magic of the twilight hours. One could call Iwaizumi the king of positive thoughts.

“We should go get cake, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa nudges him at his elbow. 

“What for?”

Neither Reapers nor Goblins need actual human food or meals to survive, but he knows of many who do so just to retain some kind of time check in the day, or just a sense of normalcy in their unending lives. 

Iwaizumi almost missed the Reaper’s shallow sigh and string of mumbled words, “It’s your birthday.”

“Oh.” His tone falls flat.

It’s not his Goblin birthday, which was very ironically his human death date. So Oikawa must have meant that it was the birthday that he used to have, 500 years ago. The actual day that he was born into existence. His human birthday.

They stop in the middle of the road, and a heavy feeling clouds and churns in Iwaizumi’s chest. 

“Did we… know each other from before?”

A small silver glint floats into Oikawa’s eyes as he teased, “I thought you didn’t want to know!” He then dramatically throws his hands up into the air, and starts to ramble.

“I’ve got too many stories to tell, like, I don't even know where to start? Or if I’m allowed to tell you at all but honestly I don’t really care.” He laughs, the brilliant sound echoing loud and wide in the shopping street that they’ve turned into. “I even got you a present for today. I almost thought I wouldn't dare to tell you or that you’ll get angry at me or something. But Iwa-chan’s still as kind as ever huh!”

Iwaizumi struggled to keep up with Oikawa’s incessant train of thoughts and rather self-absorbed point of view, but he didn’t mind letting him run the conversation by himself. Iwaizumi himself was a man of little words, preferring to take action or provide a listening ear. He could get used to this.

Or maybe he already had, five whole centuries ago.

He even let Oikawa choose the cake. On his own birthday. It’s a rainbow one with sweet milk cream betwixt the brightly coloured layers. They also end up getting a 6-pack of beer to go with the dessert, and Iwaizumi invites him up into his apartment.

And then Oikawa has the audacity to walk in like he owned the place, even before Iwaizumi took off his own shoes and shrugged out of his stuffy suit jacket.

“Mm, this is definitely the house of a very single man,” Oikawa scrunches his nose and grins as he sets the cake box onto the coffee table, coincidentally the only table in the small living room.

Iwaizumi did not take any offense from his words. “Yeah, we sort of have forever around here. Having a partner at 500 seems a bit too young, don’t you think.”

“We have forever,” Oikawa repeats, voice suddenly soft and struck with awe. His brown eyes sparkle to life again as his lips curl into the biggest smile Iwaizumi has ever seen on a person, “Yeah, we have forever and ever, Iwa-chan! Why didn’t I think of that!”

They eat the cake surprisingly unceremoniously, and Iwaizumi was starting to think that this whole birthday thing was a ruse for Oikawa to get access into his house and also for some cake, but the other had insisted that June 10th was indeed the real date of his birth.

Oikawa spins him tales of bug-catching and volleyball tournaments in between sips of alcohol and more mouthfuls of cake, and Iwaizumi chuckles in between the lines as the night flows on. They’re both sitting on the floor, scrunched and huddled as they fail to squeeze their long legs under the low table, with a korean drama droning quietly on the television serving as background noise. Everything that Oikawa tells Iwaizumi could all be fantasy and make-believe for all he knows, but the birthday boy was sure that he'd never felt this comfortable and entertained in decades.

“I would die to hear you call me Shittykawa again, but now we’re both already dead so I can’t die a second time… wait what was my point again?” Oikawa slurs and hiccups, swaying his Asahi Super Dry. Iwaizumi almost couldn’t believe what a lightweight the other man was. They were barely finishing their beer and Oikawa looks like a dumb cherry, flushed red all the way to the base of his neck.

“Just sleep on the couch for tonight,” Iwaizumi offers. “I can get you spare clothes to change into tomorrow or something.”

“You’re supposed to hit me on the head and scold me for getting drunk, but nice Iwa-chan is nice for a change so I forgive you.” 

Iwaizumi shoots him a perplexed look. He still feels detached to his past self, who’s turning into someone more aggressive than he had ever been. Perhaps he just mellowed with age. They should definitely talk more about this when they’re more sober. 

“Happy birthday, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa mumbles faintly and rubs his eyes with his sweater paws before trying his best to climb onto the couch, then promptly falling asleep. Iwaizumi sighs for the tenth time that night, and rearranges Oikawa’s long limbs to fit him onto the tiny leather couch. 

“Yeah, happy birthday to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Iwaizumi Hajime ♡
> 
> Based very loosely on the concept of Goblins and Grim Reapers from the kdrama Goblin, but here, the Goblins are Grim Reaper assistants and help them with the reaping etc.  
> Oikawa's side of the story (and more explanation) might come out on his birthday? idk?


End file.
